Why your MediaWiki runs slow and how to fix that
MediaWiki installations often suffer from performance issues that can make your wiki frustratingly slow. Here are the main culprits and proven solutions to get your wiki running fast.
Topic
setup
A collection of 112 articles
Enhancing Your Wiki with the Latest MediaWiki Extensions
Why Your Wiki Needs a Little Extra Muscle
Ever opened a MediaWiki site and thought, “this could use a splash of colour, a pinch of interactivity, maybe a dash of data‑validation?” You’re not alone. The core MediaWiki engine is rock‑solid, but it’s also a bit like
Mastering MediaWiki Parser Functions for Advanced Templating
Why the “if” matters more than you think
Picture this: you’re fiddling with an infobox on a fandom wiki and suddenly the table decides to spit out a blank line because a single parameter slipped through the cracks. In the wild world of MediaWiki, that’s not a bug
Embedding Semantic MediaWiki: Techniques for Enhanced Accessibility
When a wiki starts to speak a richer language than plain text, you instantly get a double‑edged sword: the data becomes more powerful, but the markup also grows heavier
Unlocking Advanced Search Capabilities with CirrusSearch in MediaWiki
What CirrusSearch Brings to MediaWiki
When you spin up a MediaWiki installation, the default search feels a bit like using a paper‑clip to pry open a steel door. It works, but you quickly realize it’s not built for the kind of precision you’d expect from a modern
Understanding MediaWiki's Hook System for Extension Development
Understanding MediaWiki’s Hook System for Extension Development
When you first peek at MediaWiki’s source you’ll notice a curious pattern: scattered Hooks::run calls, each paired with a string like ArticleSaveComplete or UserLoginComplete. Those are the beating heart of the extension ecosystem. In plain English, a “hook” is
Advanced Search with CirrusSearch Extension in MediaWiki
What is CirrusSearch?
If you’ve ever tried to hunt for a specific phrase on a wiki with a gazillion pages, you know the built‑in search can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. CirrusSearch changes that story. It hooks MediaWiki up to Elasticsearch (soon OpenSearch) and
How to Protect MediaWiki Against Brute-Force Logins with Fail2Ban
Why Brute‑Force Protection Matters for MediaWiki
MediaWiki powers thousands of public wikis, from community projects to corporate knowledge bases. A public login form is an obvious target for credential‑spraying and dictionary attacks. Even if you enforce strong passwords, an attacker can still lock out legitimate users or overload
Automating MediaWiki Maintenance Tasks with Cron Jobs and Scripts
Why automate MediaWiki upkeep?
Running a wiki is like keeping a garden alive – you water the plants, pull the weeds, and occasionally trim the hedges. If you wait for a weekend binge‑watch session to pop up on the calendar and then scramble to run updateSpecialPages.php or a rebuildData.
Improving MediaWiki Performance Through Advanced Cache Strategies
Why “just another tweak” never cuts it for MediaWiki
Ever opened a wiki page and felt the load bar crawl like a snail on a rainy day? You’re not alone. The thing about MediaWiki is that it stacks layers of caching like a lasagna – if one layer is soggy,